strong coffee warming up my fingers.

"Rubble is the ground on which our deepest friendships are built."

-Anne Lamott

I got to visit the land where the incredible treaty between the native Indigenous people (Maori) and the British was signed. The Treaty of Waitangi brought two groups/cultures of people and made them one under God. It was and still is a covenant. The story of New Zealand is the most God willed story I have ever heard. If you don't know it or their national anthem, then stop what you are doing and check it out. The anthem is called, "God defend New Zealand."

On a different note, don't you just love a good book that inspires you to dream, imagine, and create? I just finished Donald Miller's, "Through Painted Desert's" and am currently reading Anne Lamott's, "Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith." These books, to me, are like a song that expresses my heart, my feelings, or thoughts in that incredible way, when my own words are at a loss.

I have been thinking a lot about life. What does it look like for everyone and also what do I desire it to look like, because ultimately it is me who chooses the path I walk (In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9)? I have come to really realize that everyone's life knowing Jesus is as different as you are from me, thankfully. Some desire a life of almost monk-ness, to make up a word, and some a life of simplicity, others adventure, and so on. I am thinking I fit less in the monk category of life and more in the simple, adventure kind. While some people dream of feeding children in Africa, having a good paying job, getting a Ph.D. or living in a hut in South America. I tend to dream of living out of a van in North America, smiling at the person walking down the street, and enjoying the life's miracles. I dream of loving my friends and family with a softer heart. Of serving the people I work with, and always being awed by the sunset. I long to enjoy life in the moment.
It is when I am in awe that I shrug off the worry of not being holy enough, or worthy enough. Beauty (the beach, a mountain, Castle Hill, a starry night) brings me back to the Glory of God, to the simple truth of the Faith I fight for...that He loves me.

My time here in Auckland, this past month, has shown me something which brings me deep sadness. Pop culture has ruined Non American's perception of Americans. It truly has. I am finding myself battling against this idea of Americans being an egotistic, "we are better than everyone," outspoken, and close minded people. The second I talk, I reveal my place of origin and it is like hiking up a sick mountain or swimming upstream to help people realize I am not that. I sometimes overcompensate by being quiet, humble, and open.